We spent two days scourging Singapore for foods and pictures. We went to the obvious tourist spots as well as some obscure places where the local eat. Eric for the most part was still mesmerized with the whole food scene and how I was so accustomed to find interesting food to feature on the magazine. One of his favorite things surprisingly was when we went to a street vendor who sells Singaporean fried rice noodle, and then we could add other items to add as side dishes for the noodle such as fried eggs, fried fish cakes in all shapes and forms, stir-fry vegetables, etc. Eric really enjoyed that meal even though it was not his usual breakfast.
Don't get me wrong - I still couldn't stand the guy. I was hoping he would get the traveler's sickness pretty soon. That was mean of me. I was really just kidding. I didn't wish ill on anyone even though I may hate his guts.
We were sitting outside by the street vendor at Hougang Mall in the northeastern side of Singapore enjoying our meals. The sun was shining so bright and it was hot and humid even though it was only 9:00 AM local time.
"I didn't think I would like starchy breakfast like this." Eric said as he shoved a big portion of noodles with his chopsticks into his mouth.
"I'm used to it." I said. "My mom is Indonesian. They eat rice with every meal - breakfast, lunch, dinner." I said. Eric nodded.
"This is so good!" Eric said. "Simple, but good. I love this hot chili sauce...wow." Eric said as he shook his head so fast. "It's so spicy..my mouth and nostrils are burning."
"Take it easy there, cowboy." I said and laughed a little.
"Mh...I love spicy food. This is really hot though..but it's so delicious."
"I love street vendor food like this." I said. "It's what the locals eat. It's pure." I said.
"You do know your food, Sabrina. I give you that."
"Ugh... thus why I'm a food editor, Eric." I said annoyed. "If I didn't know food, I shouldn't be a chef and a food editor."
"I'm not trying to insult you. I was just trying to show you my admiration of you being a subject matter expert. It may be obvious to you, but I don't work closely with you to know how familiar you are with every nooks and crannies of food."
"Well, consider yourself enlightened now." I said. Eric looked at me confused and then he said..
"How do I manage to annoy you with every word I say?"
"I don't know. I guess you're so precise you just hit the bull's eye every time."
"Come on, now. You're being really unfair to me." Eric said. "It's baseless."
"I didn't say anything unfair." I said.
"Just see the upside of what I said. The glass is not always half empty."
"I'll try my best to remember that next time." I said.
"Thank you. That is all I ask. We do have one more week to spend together."
"Don't remind me." I said.
"Oh, and that's not insulting?" Eric asked.
"What??" I didn't realize I said it out loud. "I'm sorry. I'm just....ugh....I'm just eating." I said.
"You're not the only one who can get pissed off." Eric said.
"You're right." I said. "I just have a lot in my mind." I said.
"What's up?" Eric asked. "Care to share?"
"No..." I said.
"Okaaaaay...."
"I don't even know where to start. It's complicated." I said. "But, nothing serious and it has nothing to do with work, so I should just keep it to myself."
"Well, if you need to vent, I'm all ears."
"Yeah, I don't think it would be appropriate. Especially not since you are auditing me. I should just play it safe."
"Uh...Actually...about me coming with you, it has nothing to do with the audit."
"Oh?"
"It's Derek's idea. We're doing a due diligence to acquire a local magazine here as Joie Asia Pacific extension. Derek thinks it'll be easier if I would tag along with you to learn the rope of the local market inconspicuously."
"Wow..good to know." Eric laughed.
"Sorry. Derek did say inconspicuously."
"And you made me believe I'm still being audited this whole trip?"
"Hey, it has only been four days. Besides, you're not exactly nice to me." Eric said. "So, why should I be nice to you?" He said as he chewed on a fish cake.
"That's so not nice." I said as tipped his chopsticks he was using to pin another fish cake so it fell to his plate. He laughed as he jumped back a little avoiding splashes.
"I couldn't believe you!" I said.
"Come on, Sabrina...it doesn't affect anything at all." He said. "You still can't say no. It's still coming all the way up from Derek himself."
"I can still be pissed about it. This is done under false pretenses."
"My God.... don't you have a sense of humor? I don't understand why Nigel talks so highly about you all the time." Eric said. "You're being a bitch."
"Excuse me? Did you just call me a bitch?"
"No. I just said you're acting like one. Quit it. It's not a big deal."
"Well, I'm calling you an asshole. There....Asshole." I said and I stood up and left him there.
I just walked around the shops in that mall complex letting out steams. I didn't know how that guy could just make me so mad all the time. Good thing I found things rather quickly that kept me occupied. There was a wet traditional market behind the mall, and I just had a ball taking pictures. I talked to some of the sellers and wrote a lot of notes. This trip could have been a fiasco but I knew I would still produce a great solid piece out of it. I just really couldn't believe everything. My life has not been boring for the last month. There have been way too many surprises and unexpected events. I could say nothing should surprise me anymore. If I were to see a pig with wings flying above me, I wouldn't go whoaa. That wouldn't be surprising at all. One thing Eric said that I did catch was something about Nigel talking so highly of me. That actually made me smile but sad at the same time. I guess Nigel talked about me. I wonder what he would say about Charlotte Reed.
My God, I really have been trying the past two days to forget everything that happened back home. I still couldn't erase it completely from my mind and heart. It still weighs rather heavily in my chest. I wish I could find some Chinese remedies to alleviate it. There have to be some wild goat knuckles or panda claw concoction that can do just that - heal a broken heart. No?
Then, I passed a shop selling the Singaporean Bak Wah, Bee Cheng Hiang the store called. Bak Wah is similar to jerky; however it is made by ground pork or chicken, thinned down to a jerky like consistency and grilled. It tastes rather sweet as well compared to savory. I bought a pile of the Bak Wah, and I really did forget about the heavy heart. They were so delicious. I sat on a park bench, eating the Bak Wah, and I was totally just daydreaming.
All of a sudden, Eric came approaching me.
"I've looked all over for you." He said. "In this heat." He said as he panted a little and sat next to me.
"I didn't ask you to look for me."
"Well, you have the car key." He said.
I rolled my eyes.
"You can't still be mad, Sabrina."
"Oh yes, I can. Yes, I can." I said.
"But you're not." Eric said. His blue eyes were calm and his strong facial feature actually softened a bit. I looked at him, and I really wanted to hate him, but I knew it was childish. So I shook my head back and forth. "I'm not."
Eric cracked a smile. "I'm sorry. It wasn't meant as a lie. I didn't mean to make you mad, again."
"It's okay. Water under the bridge." I said.
"What's that you're eating?" He asked.
"Singaporean jerky." I said. "Bak Wah." I said as I offered him some. He took one and he started chewing and nodding. "Yumm.." He said. I smiled a little.
"I need to go back to the gym later." He said.
"You do that." I said.
"Mh...this is so good!" he said about the Bak Wah. "Oh, by the way, Victoria called me asking for you." Eric continued. "She said you're not answering her calls."
"That's right." I said. "It's okay...I'm sure she rather talks to you anyway."
"She has been acting differently lately. Very friendly. She kept calling, and asking me to hang out and go out." Eric muttered. He had a puzzled expression on his face.
"Why not? Did you? Can't be bad going out with Victoria." Eric shook his head.
"No... I didn't understand why all of a sudden she acts all friendly with me. More than the usual." Eric said. "I've been so busy with all types of acquisition and tax day is coming up, I just don't have the time."
"But she's Victoria Perkins." I said.
"So what?" Eric asked with a frown.
"She's every man's fantasy." Eric laughed.
"Is she?"
"Some of us thought so." I said. "She's everything a woman wants to be."
Eric laughed. "I don't have ill things to say about your best friend, Sabrina. However, there are more to a man's fantasy than a pretty face and a great body."
I slouched my shoulders. "You had to say it, didn't you?" I said. "What else do you guys want?"
"When I think of my dream woman, I didn't picture Victoria." Eric said.
"Oh...she'll hate you for you saying that." I said.
"It's the truth..." He said. "I picture a sweet natural beauty rather than a beautiful face that's always perfectly done up. I picture a woman with a nice curve that shows she enjoys life, rather than a skinny model-like body knowing that she probably eats cotton."
I started to laugh a little. I guess Eric is not as shallow as I thought.
"I picture a woman who talks about others around her and her passions, rather than talking about herself." Eric continued. I continued to pay attention to what he said. "And lastly, I picture woman who is not afraid. She's just not afraid of anything."
"Hope you will find her, Eric." I said with a smile. "She sounds wonderful."
"She is wonderful, Sabrina. That's the truth and I know where she is." he said.
"Ah...lucky you, then." I said and started chewing another Bak Wah. Of course, he found his dream woman. Why wouldn't he.
"She hates my guts though." Eric said and laughed.
"I guess it's a trend with you. You think I hate you too. Maybe you need to change your way, then maybe you will have a chance with her."
"That's a great advice, Sabby." Eric said and laughed. "I may take you up on that."
Funny that the guy whom I thought as one of the shallowest guys in the world turned out to be decent. Maybe, Eric was just confused because of the heat he wasn't thinking clearly. However, I guess he really wasn't all that into Victoria. He never seemed to gravitate towards her. What are the odds that Victoria is actually falling for Eric. She hasn't been in love with anyone for years and years. Now, when she opened her heart to someone, that person already had somebody else in mind. From the description, Victoria didn't even come close to Eric's dream woman. Eric's dream woman actually sounded more like a realistic person than a dream. I still think Victoria is more dreamy though I do hate her guts right at this moment.
I really didn't know what it would take to repair our friendship. I knew that I would forgive and forget but I just couldn't believe we shared a penis. Ugh, that just made me gagged big time. The only positive thing was I was first and she took my leftover. I still didn't get why she did what she did. I kept on wondering and how people could just succumb to desire and forget about norms, friendships, and morals. I wanted Nigel more than anything. There was nothing I wanted more than to have him inside me as we made hot passionate love all night long. I didn't even know Marcy. She's not my friend. Yet, I still couldn't do it. I couldn't just listen to what my body said about jumping his bone while he was laying on my bed more than willing. I listened to my heart and to my brain. At the end, people do wrong things because they chose to do so. It wasn't because of the devil, desire, temptations, and all those. It was simply because they made the decision to go and take that path. I chose not to.
Victoria knew how devastated I was when Jax broke up with me. I gave Jax my everything and I thought I finally found my soul mate. The days we spent getting to know each other and all the words he told me sounded so right. I didn't think I could find a better guy for me. He might have not been the richest and the most educated; yet, he understood me. He laughed at me and with me. He liked food I made. He always made me feel pretty. I really thought I found the one in Jax Weston. We had an unbelievable sex life too on top of everything else. After we broke up, I cried half the time of losing him and how he broke my heart. The other half, I cried missing the sex I used to have with him and his crooked wiener.
Imagining Victoria enjoying those times made me want to kill someone. It just really wreaked havoc deep inside of me no matter how hard I tried not to think about it. It must be great to be Vic - she had tons of fun sleeping with my hot sexy police officer ex boyfriend, and now she thinks she can just move on and be Mrs. CFO of Joie. I wish I had that confidence and the gall. Victoria looked like a woman, but I think she had two big balls under that tight pencil skirt she wears.
She had the gall to fuck my ex boyfriend. She is going South with me. I always thought of her as North side and how I want to go up North. Not anymore.
